Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 30 posts

Re: Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?

#21

Post by callmeed »

eddy_chan wrote: post #18

Do you have kids yourself? I don't want to be condescending but, this is one of those things where you have to be part of the target market to understand that the protective instinct you have over your own kids is so strong and so raw that it would be really hard to overcome inside an on-demand transactional marketplace. You will also understand that kids up to school age (toddlers) generally only trust people they'r…

Did you read my post? This is my daughter's idea. I actually have 4 kids (age 5, 7, 9, and 19). My wife and I go on dates weekly so I'm confident I fit the target market :)

When we lived in Oregon we used a sitter service that would send us one of a handful of sitters. I liked the model and my daughter is interested in something similar (with a tech twist).

I am protective of my kids but I am not a helicopter parent (my wife is). My kids are social, friendly and naturally trusting. I don't teach them to "never talk to strangers".

You're completely entitled to your own views/processes wrt childcare. Just don't assume everyone feels exactly the same.

I fully understand the main issue is trust. BUT I think that's the same issue startups like AirBnB have to tackle.

Re: Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?

#25

Post by eddy_chan »

callmeed wrote: post #21
eddy_chan wrote: post #18

Do you have kids yourself? I don't want to be condescending but, this is one of those things where you have to be part of the target market to understand that the protective instinct you have over your own kids is so strong and so raw that it would be really hard to overcome inside an on-demand transactional marketplace. You will also understand that kids up to school age (toddlers) generally only trust people they'r…

Did you read my post? This is my daughter's idea. I actually have 4 kids (age 5, 7, 9, and 19). My wife and I go on dates weekly so I'm confident I fit the target market :) When we lived in Oregon we used a sitter service that would send us one of a handful of sitters. I liked the model and my daughter is interested in something similar (with a tech twist). I am protective of my kids but I am not a helicopter parent…

Sorry, maybe my reaction to the post title was so visceral I didn't read the finer points. My concerns that I wrote down were actually my wifes concerns, they always seem to have the final say in who takes care of the kids if both parents aren't around. I'm sure my level of trust will improve as my daughter gets older but at this age (2) I wouldn't leave her with anybody for her sake and for the sitters sake.

With respect to AirBnB and car-sharing schemes and the like - there's an order of magnitude difference in how much I care if my house/car gets trashed vs something happening to my daughter. Sure I care in the first case, but I personally can see tech overcoming that.

Re: Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?

#26

Post by JoeAltmaier »

In a heartbeat. Folks get all worked up about babysitters, interviewing them like some corporate job.

If they show up, if they look nice and say 'yes sir' and 'thank you sir' then they're in. My kids can survive being unhappy, even ignored for a few hours; I'm not one who thinks they are fragile little vessels, but instead are designed to survive. So bring on the CPR-certified background-checked babysitters! To be honest I've never found one like that before, so its a step up.

Re: Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?

#29

Post by gregcohn »

A lot of other commenters have already touched on the trust factor, but I think that's only one (albeit a key) dimension of the problem.

The other is that the marketplace dynamics of babysitting are (on average) very different from Uber. Although some people travel, most people use babysitters in their home. Most people use babysitters infrequently. Yes, short notice situations do happen, but most things are planned sufficiently in advance to reach out to a small, trusted group of local/locally available service providers.

While the on-demand dimension of a service like this is appealing in those rare instances where you have short notice to find someone and your usual options are booked, this feels intuitively like the minority of situations.

Post reply on HN